Now I can wear figure-hugging clothes...
THREE WOMEN TELL US HOW JOINING SLIMMING WORLD HELPED THEM LOSE WEIGHT, FEEL GREAT AND LIVE LIFE TO THE FULL
Rebecca Coles, 25, is an accountant and lives in Oundle, Northamptonshire
Surrounded by cheering crowds whooping and clapping, I caught sight of my mum Carol jogging past. She was running the London Marathon at the age of 55 and I couldn’t have been more proud.
But something niggled. I wanted to run a marathon too, but I felt I was too overweight to even think about it.
Motivated by my mum, I decided to do the free NHS Couch to 5k running programme. But as I jogged, my knees started to hurt. I realised I was just too heavy, so six weeks before Christmas, in November 2021, I went to my local Slimming World group in Hampton, Peterborough. It was daunting but everyone was so friendly and welcoming.
Slimming World’s Food Optimising plan transformed how I eat and showed me how I could lose weight without having to feel hungry.
I swapped my morning croissant for overnight oats or fresh fruit and yogurt. Instead of a supermarket meal deal of pasta and chocolate for lunch, I ate a homemade chicken salad, and my evening meal was a healthy pasta bake or jacket potato.
Instead of sharesize bags of sweets, I’m eating lots more veg, fruit and yogurt. By Christmas Day I’d lost 14lb – it was the motivation I needed to see me through the festive period.
As the weight dropped off, running became easier and my knees stopped hurting. I ran the London Landmarks half marathon in April and then the Great Eastern run in October. But most excitingly I have a place for the London Marathon next year with the Slimming World team. I train three times a week as well as